Sanity Sunday Musical Break- Cellist Patrick Dexter

by Nomad

Irish Cellist Patrick Dexter provides us with some music for a relaxing Sunday. In the videos, he plays from his cottage in the West Irish hills with his dog nearby.

Sanity Sunday Musical Break for October 2022

by Nomad

alexrainbirdMusic · Relaxing Sunday Mornings  - An Indie/Folk/Pp Playlist | Vol. 1R

I thought you would might like a bit of calming music this Sunday. 

Sanity Sunday- The Music of Frédéric Chopin

by Nomad

A bit of change of pace.

I thought I would offer you a sanity break this Sunday, featuring the music of Frédéric Chopin. 

Although his musical career was foreshortened by his early death at age 39, this Polish composer was considered a "poetic genius...without equal in his generation." As his Wikipedia bio reminds us:

Chopin's music, his status as one of music's earliest celebrities, his indirect association with political insurrection, his high-profile love-life, and his early death have made him a leading symbol of the Romantic era.

This selection is Prelude no.15 ‘Raindrop’, op.28, played on the piano by the Chinese concert pianist popularly known as Yundi.

 

Sanity Sunday: COVID CELLO PROJECT- 10 "Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber

by Nomad

With just 50 days remaining before the election, we are now entering the nail-biting part of the 2020 presidential election. If America gets lucky, in 129 days, we shall be able to start the long and tiresome process of rebuilding the country.

Meanwhile, the pandemic rages on and is expected to get much worse before peaking sometime in early January. The COVID Cello Project has grown from humble beginnings to its present size of 278 cellists from 29 countries. In this their 10th online concert, the cellists pay respect to all those who have passed.

 

Sanity Sunday Musical Break - Dire Straits

by Nomad

Formed in London in 1977 by brothers Mark and David Knopfler, Dire Straits' debut album, Sultans of Swing, reached the top ten in the UK and US charts. By the mid-80s, songs like "Money for Nothing" and "Walk of Life" made Dire Straits an MTV favorite. 

Despite this welcome exposure, it was apparent that music video directors found it difficult to visually interpret Dire Straits songs. For example, even by 80s standards, Romeo and Juliet is nearly unwatchable. That's a pity because it is, in my opinion, a masterpiece.

Sanity Sunday - Laid-Back Lounge Music

by Nomad

In the wake of yesterday's demoralizing and tragic news, I thought we needed a bit of a diversion. In this case, I selected lounge music, songs from another era. A time when people didn't have to worry about being shot while Saturday shopping or a night out at a local bar.   

Sanity Sunday - In Memory of Leon Redbone

by Nomad

On Thursday of this week, news came that singer-songwriter Leon Redbone had passed away at the age of 69. He has been called "perpetually anachronistic," "mysterious" and "a man out of time, a vaudevillian who tottered along in a television age."

Sanity Sunday: Middle Eastern Gypsy Jazz of Mohammed Rashid

by Nomad

Sanity Sunday - Nomad's Chill Mix No. 2

by Nomad

No doubt about it: for anybody following US politics, this has been an exhausting and demoralizing week. We have had front row seats to the dismantling of institutions that we once believed were the safeguards to the American Republic.
And next week is not likely to be any better.

Sanity Sunday - The Music of Schubert and Brahms

by Nomad

For this Sanity Sunday, I want to go back to the Romantic period which is always good for a little mental palate cleansing.

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Dying at the age of 31, his musical career was short and yet he left the world with quite a legacy. That included "more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly Lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large body of piano and chamber music."

Sanity Sunday - Sylvia Telles

by Nomad

One of the most talented Brazilian bossa nova singer during the 1950s and '60s, Sylvia Telles' vocal style has been described as "smooth, sophisticated, generally understated, yet somehow bursting with raw emotion."

Sanity Sunday Musical Break - Meditation Music from India

by Nomad

For this Sanity Sunday, I have arranged something a little different, meditative music for trying times. 
Even though I have never been too much of a devotee of meditation, I did find this music relaxing and- for want of a better word- soulful. Whether that means anything as far as reducing my stress levels or any other health benefits, I can't tell you.

In any event, I hope you enjoy it.

Sanity Sunday Musical Break- Fleetwood Mac

by Nomad

(Norman Seeff, 1978)

This week's sanity break shines a light on one of the greatest groups of the 70s and 80s- Fleetwood Mac. Formed in London in 1967, Fleetwood Mac made its live debut at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival in England.

Over the years, both in terms of performing artists and style, this band went through a lot of alterations and members changes. In fact, the most-familiar lineup of Fleetwood Mac, (Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine and John McVie) was actually the 10th lineup of the band.

Sanity Sunday Musical Break - Richard Hawley

by Nomad

Sanity Sunday Musical Break - Steel Drum Party

by Nomad

Since it has been a fairly hellish year, I would like to close down 2018 on an upbeat and celebratory note. For that, I put together this collection of tunes played on the steel drums.
Hope it lightens your mood as we prepare to bid farewell to the year.

Sanity Sunday Musical Break- Tribute to John Lennon

by Nomad

Unimaginable

Yesterday marked the anniversary of the death of ex-Beatle John Lennon. It is just impossible for me to believe that 38 years have passed since that senseless murder outside the Dakota Apartment Building on 72nd and Central Park West.

Sanity Sunday Musical Break- Chill Mix

by Nomad

Time to kick back and mull over the events of the past week and to try and speculate what's to come. Watching the president helpless thrash and flail as the ship of state slowly begins to right itself is, in a strange way, entertaining and reassuring.

This week's Sanity Sunday Musical break is a pretty random mix of relaxing "chill" tunes. Hope you enjoy the selection.

Sanity Sunday Musical Break- Stéphane Grappelli

by Nomad

French jazz violinist, Stéphane Grappelli, might not be a familiar name to many of you. Grappelli has been called "the grandfather of jazz violinists" and certainly has a distinctive style.

Throughout his career, Grappelli collaborated with my top musicians like Jean-Luc Ponty, Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, and most famously, swing guitarist, Django Reinhardt. (For a more complete biography, click here.)

The Weekly Review (Nov 5 - 11) and Sanity Sunday Musical Break

by Nomad

Even in the face of a mid-term victory for patriotic Americans, it was still a horrible and stress-filled week. After the good news, there was literally one shock after the other. The week then closed with Trump making an embarrassment of himself on the world stage.
We have a lot of ground to cover so let's hop to it.

Putting this Week to Bed (October 22- 28)

by Nomad

Top Story

This week, unsettling news on a national level wiped clean last week's story about the gruesome murder of Saudi exile Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.